(WHDH) — The United States Marshals Service recently found 27 more missing children during “Operation Find Our Children,” a five-day law enforcement effort focused on human trafficking, officials announced Friday.
The Virginia operation also confirmed the location of six additional children who were previously reported missing but found to be in the custody of their legal guardian, according to the Department of Justice.
More than 60 law enforcement investigators, 50 employees from the Virginia Department of Social Services, and professionals from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children teamed up to recover the children.
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Since 2005, the U.S. Marshals Service has recovered more than 2,000 missing children. Over the past five years, the agency has recovered missing children in 75 percent of the cases it has received.
“While this Virginia operation is the most recent recovery of endangered and missing children led by the U.S. Marshals Service this year, we have also recovered more than 440 kids in Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, Louisiana and other states,” Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen said in a news release.
Forty-five missing children were found and 179 people were arrested during a multi-agency enforcement operation in Ohio last month.
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